Time For Battle!

Age of Empires II (Gold Edition) is an excellent strategy game for the PC. You get to choose your civilization, then get out there and build a town, defend it, and attack other towns. The goal is wipe out the other civilizations so you rule the world.

Game Play

The game play is very well done and entertaining. You control just about everything with the mouse in a way that is simple but efficient. You begin by creating villagers for your town and assigning them to different jobs like cutting down lumber, gathering food from bushes, hunting, and mining. You gain resources (gold, food, wood, and stone) from what your villagers gather, and you use these to build more buildings and create more people. As the game progresses, you can give up some of your resources in order to move into the next age, or time period. These include the Dark Age, Feudal Age, Castle Age, and Imperial Age. With each age comes better buildings, a new look for your buildings, and the ability to do more things. Of course, you also have to build up an army. This can be done with a variety of soldiers, animals, and weapons. There are cavalry, archers, spearmen, etc., all with different abilities. Each civilization also has its own special fighter. An example is the war elephant that the Persians have. Multiplayer supports up to 8 players, human or computer controller. Even with only a few humans and many computer teams, the games are exciting and challenging.

Graphics

The graphics in this game are quite good. The game uses a type of "fake 3D", where the angle is fixed, but the structures and people look 3D. The landscapes are varying and interesting, and the people, soldiers, and animals are well detailed. This is not that new of game, so the graphics aren't totally amazing, but they are still very good.

Overall, this is a very fun game that doesn't require much "gaming" skill to play. It requires good strategy, but you don't have to have fast reflexes to play it. The action is somewhat slow-paced at times, but an intense battle may keep you on the edge of your seat. If you like strategy games, this may be the way to go.